Ex-staffer of Dallas police academy cites bullying in inquiry

A longtime Dallas Police Department employee says he and other workers were “bullied” and “intimidated” by internal affairs investigators looking into allegations of wrongdoing at the training academy.

Gene Hagen, a retired officer who was the civilian coordinator at the academy, said he believes he was transferred last month to the city’s auto pound as retaliation for not answering questions a certain way.

Hagen’s grievance, which his attorneys released publicly Tuesday, is the latest accusation in a battle between the Dallas Police Association and top police commanders. The fight, which Chief David Brown recently called a “hot mess,” became public after the association’s president, Ron Pinkston, wrote a letter to state auditors claiming one recruit was repeatedly allowed to take a driving test until he passed.

After the chief launched an internal inquiry into the complaint, Hagen said internal investigators asked him three yes-or-no questions: Have you ever tested a recruit until they passed? Have you ever observed any other instructor test a recruit until they passed? Have you ever been directed or directed anyone to test a recruit until they passed?

Hagen said he answered “yes” to all three questions. He said a sergeant later tried to get him to change his answers.

When he went to a computer to type his statement, Hagen said, he saw the questions already answered “no” on the screen. He said he tried to explain to the sergeant why he was answering yes, and the sergeant told him he only wanted yes-or-no answers.

He said the sergeant then tried to stop him from changing the answers and told him that the first question actually meant “is there a practice at the Dallas Police Academy of testing recruits until they pass?”

He said the sergeant also insisted that he add, “before this incident, I have never tested a recruit until they passed.”

Hagen said he found out afterward that other academy employees had similar experiences.

The Dallas Police Association released a statement Tuesday saying its leaders were “deeply concerned and alarmed” by Hagen’s transfer. Bob Gorsky, a police association attorney, said in a news release that Hagen’s grievance “raises some serious questions” about the police academy investigation.

“Bullying and manipulating officers and civilians into providing manufactured statements that fit what the command staff may be looking for falls far short of the level of integrity expected from an internal investigation,” Gorsky said. “And to transfer Mr. Hagen because he didn’t answer the questions as they wished is just wrong.

“Unfortunately, his grievance must be brought to the very people who very likely condoned this investigative practice.”

Brown declined to comment Tuesday and said he would let the grievance process play out. He said in a recent interview that Hagen and others were transferred after state auditors found paperwork problems and policies not being followed or communicated at the academy.

Brown said his review showed no evidence that the recruit was tested until he passed. He also has said the department had been looking into allegations of racial bias — raised by the Black Police Association of Greater Dallas — in testing. State auditors reported that some academy instructors believed, at different times, that the recruit in question and another recruit were Brown’s godson. Both recruits are black. Brown has said that neither man is his godson.

Gorsky also has said the department failed to investigate a sexual harassment allegation against one of those two recruits, whose father is a Dallas officer who is apparently close to Brown. Gorsky’s firm also represents Senior Cpl. Manny Sanchez, a driving instructor who was placed on administrative leave in April after being accused of changing the test scores of the two recruits.

Brown said state auditors did not believe Sanchez was forthcoming with them. Sanchez, who did not actually score the tests but ran the driving program at the academy, remains on administrative leave.

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